David Price Delivers Seven Solid Innings In Rays Win; Ponson Cures Ailing Rays Offense
by Tommy Rancel on Jul 31, 2009 10:45 PM EDT
18 comments
After the Rays spent the morning and afternoon in silence on this deadline day, the play on the field and the subsequent concert after was heard loud and clear tonight. Sure, it was against the Kansas City Royals. And yes, Sidney Ponson was the opposing starter, but after all the negative we've had over the past few days I'm here to focus on all the good from tonight's game.
R.J. gave you the offensive monthly overview on Thursday, and if you follow the trend you'll see the Rays offense should get going in August. You've also heard us mention that Carlos Pena has a career OPS of over 1.000 in August. While we hope all these trends continue to happen through August and September, Pena and the Rays got a jumpstart on July 31st.
Pena has looked completely lost at times this month, but with two on and two out in the 1st inning, Pena blasted a three run shot off the left field pole. Three was a popular number for the Rays as three players had triples. Carl Crawford tripled for the 90th time in his career and Pat Burrell tripled for the first time as a Ray. Not to be out done, Ben Zobrist hit his sixth triple of the year, tying him with CC for the team lead.
Thanks to RBI base hits by Burrell, Jason Bartlett and Gabe Gross, the Rays chased Ponson after 4.1 ineffective innings. His counterpart on the night, the velocirator, David Price was extremely effective. Without striking out the world, Price was as effective and efficient as I've seen him this year.
More on Price's start after the jump
DP worked seven innings for just the second time in his career. Unlike the first start in which he gave up five earned runs and two homers, he gave up just one run today and that came on a fielders choice. He scattered five hits and walked just two. As mentioned above, he didn't strike out the world. He had just three punchouts and got just seven whiffs. The nice part was he induced 12 groundball outs by keeping the ball low (Flo Rida pun not intended). Nearly half his pitches came "below the belt" of the hitter in the normalized strike zone.
Price pounded the whole strike zone 64% of the time using his fastball, slider and change up. On the night Price threw 62.5% fastballs, 28.8% sliders, and get this, 8.2% change ups. Coming into the game, he was averaging 69.0% fastballs, 23.9% sliders and just 5.6% change ups. More variety seemed to work very well for him tonight as Price used all three pitches in different counts keeping the opposition off balance. 
Price also used the entire plate which is something we haven't seen too often from him. It's been said that Price is very predictable in terms of pitch location. He works inside to right handers and outside to lefties. For some reason he has seemed to avoid the first base side of the plate. This was not the case tonight as he had almost even distribution to both sides as you can see in the charts above.
Sure it's only one start for Price and just one good offensive game for the Rays, but now that we know this is basically the team we are going to battle with in the second half. The sustained win streak and solid play that Joe Maddon has preached about has to start some where and I think tonight was a good night to start that. Of course, a loss tomorrow against Bruce Chen makes this last paragraph completely irrelevant so let's try and avoid that if possible.
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It was a good night
I do have a curious observation. Does anyone on here think Maddon should consider swapping Zobrist and Longoria in the batting order? I like Ben’s OBP in the 3 hole, and he might get more to hit with Longoria in the cleanup spot.
by sofladude77 on Jul 31, 2009 10:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Staats said Zobrist's average in the cleanup spot is someone near .375 since he was moved there.
i don’t think he’s moving any time soon.
A reporter once asked Rickey Henderson if he talked to himself, "Do I talk to myself? No, I just remind myself of what I’m trying to do. You know, I never answer myself so how can I be talking to myself?"
by Zobrist on deck on Jul 31, 2009 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Actually he's batting .391 in the 4 spot
9-23 with 1 double and 2 triples. I’d say he’s doing just fine.
A reporter once asked Rickey Henderson if he talked to himself, "Do I talk to myself? No, I just remind myself of what I’m trying to do. You know, I never answer myself so how can I be talking to myself?"
by Zobrist on deck on Jul 31, 2009 11:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He's implying that Zob is a better #3 option then Longo, not that Longo is a better #4 option then Zob.
I can't wait until we trade him for a reliever.
by kericr on Aug 1, 2009 12:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I understand that Zobrist's OBP is a better fit for the #3 spot but
I was addressing the fact sofladude said he (Zobrist) might get more to hit [in the #3 spot] with Longo in the cleanup spot.
Ben couldn’t possibly get any more to hit when his line is .391/.440/.609 since the move to the clean up spot. While Longo is at .261/.370/.565 during the same span. Isn’t better to keep the hotter slugger in the clean up spot and let the struggling hitter see the better pitches?
A reporter once asked Rickey Henderson if he talked to himself, "Do I talk to myself? No, I just remind myself of what I’m trying to do. You know, I never answer myself so how can I be talking to myself?"
by Zobrist on deck on Aug 1, 2009 2:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
How is a .935 OPS struggling?
Longo might not be as hot as Zobrist has been, but I wouldn’t necessarily call a guy slugging .565 struggling.
by ReyL on Aug 1, 2009 2:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
if longo didn't connect on one of those 2 recent HRs during this span
his OPS is .762. All i’m saying is Longo is seeing better pitches most likely B/C Zobrist is behind him. They can’t walk or pitch around Longo with Zorilla behind him.
A reporter once asked Rickey Henderson if he talked to himself, "Do I talk to myself? No, I just remind myself of what I’m trying to do. You know, I never answer myself so how can I be talking to myself?"
by Zobrist on deck on Aug 1, 2009 2:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sorry, I'm a lil intoxicated
forgot to mention both of their stats for July 1st- July 24th when they first made Ben clean up:
Before the swap Longo’s line was .164/.263/.358 and Ben’s was .339/.431/.452. So I’d say Longo was struggling, but since the move IMO Longo has certainly seen some nice pitches and they should at least stay in where they are until Longo returns to his early season form.
A reporter once asked Rickey Henderson if he talked to himself, "Do I talk to myself? No, I just remind myself of what I’m trying to do. You know, I never answer myself so how can I be talking to myself?"
by Zobrist on deck on Aug 1, 2009 3:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Ben's BA was .313 not .339 from July1st -July 24th
Being high gets only causes trouble with numbers…
A reporter once asked Rickey Henderson if he talked to himself, "Do I talk to myself? No, I just remind myself of what I’m trying to do. You know, I never answer myself so how can I be talking to myself?"
by Zobrist on deck on Aug 1, 2009 3:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I was thinking
that Zorilla playing as a all-around player with the OBP and threat to steal when on. He can prolong an inning and has less wasted ABs. Longoria strikes out a lot and hits into a lot of DPs.
by sofladude77 on Aug 1, 2009 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I wasn't able to watch the game tonight..
How was Prices velocity?
by tbmd on Jul 31, 2009 11:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Lived around 92. Pumped it up to 95 on occasion.
www.draysbay.com
by Tommy Rancel on Jul 31, 2009 11:51 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Is that where his velocity sat throughout his minor league career?
if you know..jw since we all know he can touch 99
by tbmd on Jul 31, 2009 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
A couple of tangential notes
1. Zobrist was terrific tonight-again-and unlucky. He was called out on strikes in the first on what he thought was ball 4. He hit a bullet through the box with runners on 1st and 3rd, but it bounced off Ponson’s back (He takes up a lot of space) and right to the second baseman on the fly so he was out, and after they failed to double Pena off first they got Crawford for not tagging up when he raced home, so it was a DP. Zobrist also made a nice dive to keep a grounder in the infield but could not get it out of his glove cleanly so it went as a hit. Of course he also tripled and singled, and the triple was really stroked.
2. Navarro had mostly good ABs. He lined out reasonably hard to left and then hit a scorching line drive that the first baseman was lucky to grab (and another DP). He also had a crucial walk taking some close pitches to keep the inning alive in front of Bartlett’s 2 out double that drove in a run, and later, after going to 0-2 and fighting back to even the count before hitting a no-doubt home run. He has actually been hitting pretty well for a while, although he is not walking much.
3. Is Price throwing different kinds of fastballs? He had innings when it topped out at 88-89 and others when it was 93-95. Or is he just scaling back and saving the extra oomph for specific situations?
4. He did not get the runner at 3B, but that was a heck of a throw by Gross from RF.
by bobr on Aug 1, 2009 1:32 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Price does have a two seam fastball that he throws on occasion
I think the range on the two seam for him is 88-91 and I did se it a few times.
Gross was about a 1/2 of second late on the throw to third but I don’t think the throw even hit the ground which was impressive.
Over his last 50 or so plate appearances Navi has an OPS of over .700. REGRESSION!.
And yea Benzo is a stud.
Nice little game all around. Do it again this afternoon, k thx much.
www.draysbay.com
by Tommy Rancel on Aug 1, 2009 8:37 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs
My heart went out to Navi tonight (for once) and really, all of this week
He’s been blazing liners about, but right at the defenders.
Price’s changeup looked much better tonight. And he threw a few slurvy types that broke right over the heart of the plate. Looks like he took an opportunity against a lesser offensive club to work on improving his offspeed repertoire. Well done.
So long, Sweet Lime!
by PlayOnWords on Aug 1, 2009 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Navi looks light years ahead of where he was at the plate
Actually seeing pitches and working the count and then doing something with the pitch he likes. He had that line drive that was hit right at Dejesus and the rip at Butler you mentioned above. And as for Gross, I think the guy has a top 5 arm out of RF. That was an absolute laser beam, especially when you consider he had to range well to his left almost to the foul line.
My biggest hope for today? Burrell keeps ripping the ball. We need Pat to get hot and really rake the rest of the year.
by BJ the Bossman on Aug 1, 2009 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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